Students leave campus for last time

Last Friday marked the beginning of summer for R. Roger Rowe students and the start of one busy summer for the construction of the new Rowe campus. After students cleared out on the last day of school, teachers were busy cleaning out their classrooms, preparing for a move into the portables of the interim campus.

The school will be housed in the portable classrooms until fall of 2010 when the new school is set to open to students.

The demolition process of Rowe is expected to begin next week but concrete was already being dug up on Friday. Alumni already began searching the soil for a time capsule buried years ago.

Some rooms were already all packed up, including the library. Other teachers were still hard at work. First grade teacher Frances Migita worked with her radio blasting Friday.

A rainbow of construction paper circled kindergarten teacher Erin Stevens as she packed up supplies.

"I am excited," Stevens said. "It's going to be an amazing school when it's all done,"

Speech pathologist Andrea Judge's desk was still completely set up in the back of her "speech cave," behind rows of boxes. She still had a couple appointments left that Monday.

Judge said they call the room a cave as it was a converted storage area, a very narrow space. She said she's excited to have a new room in the only existing building that the school is not tearing down.

Teachers will return to school to set up their portables on Aug. 19 and will be ready to welcome students back on Sept. 3. The school will hold an official groundbreaking ceremony on Sept. 4.